Oxygen Saturation Levels

[Fifi]

Does any one know what normal oxygen saturation levels should be?

At night mine vary between 87 and 94.

I often wake up with my heart pounding in my chest and I feel out of breath and i am just wondering if my saturation levels could be causing this?

I think I read somewhere that normal levels were anything between 96 and 100, but i can't now seem to find any info on that subject when I search.

Does anyone else experience what i am experiencing?

[Goofproof]

I had by-pass surgery and had a 90 O2 level and they made me install O2 in the home at 2 L. I was on it for 2 1/2 months and the Dr. checked it it was still 90, and they had me stop it. Does it sound like they know anything, NOT.

They also had me using it at 2 L, while on CPAP at 14 cm, most of that O2 just vented out of the mask due to the higher volumme of air flowing making the percentage of O2 in the CPAP little more than room air. Dr.s must not take science in College or H.S.

[Ric]

Does any one know what normal oxygen saturation levels should be?

Most references suggest 94% or greater for adults. (some say 94%-98%, others say 94%-100). but that's the ballpark.

94-98%
http://www.hosp.uky.edu/ClinLab/report.pdf

90-100%
http://iweb.lati.tec.sd.us/staff/gleyst ... 0Gases.htm

95-100%
http://www.pathcentre.com/pdf/Reference ... ov2003.pdf

Take your choice.

[Goofproof]

Are you using XPAP? I sometimes have that not bad just racing (Tachycardia). I don't seem to be out of breath, just suffer from congestion. If it's not a XPAP related problem ( Too Low a flow ), you need to see the Dr. Heart trouble isn't much fun. Been there done that.

[Goofproof]

Stupid Question: Mine I didn't look at the bottom of your post, are your results from the software OK In the Ball Park, at the times you are having trouble. If everything looks Ok there, I would get it checked farther. Some DME's will loan out O2 meters on word from your Dr.s. I am on a couple of med's to control heart rate, still too high.

[mefifi]

Sorry can't log on.

Thank you goof p for your input. To be honest Heart did not even occur to me. I am keeping my fingers crossed and trusting my problem is purely sleep/respiratory related.

I need to explore all the respiratory possibilities to begin with. What my options are in trying to help my self. I recon if it was heart i would have chest pains or something.

My Oxymeter readings are pretty constant and do not go below 88.

Thanks also for your information Ric and the links. Pretty useful stuff!
I think I 'll probably go with the 95-100 being the normal range.

Not sure I understood the bit about age O2 saturation levels. Did you get it Ric?
Does it mean the older one is, the lover the absorption of oxygen into the blood stream, hence lower oxygen readings?

Fifi

[NightHawkeye]

I think I 'll probably go with the 95-100 being the normal range.

Fifi, I can tell you that the default alarm setting on my oximeter is 85%. The software, on the other hand, declares anything below 89% a desaturation. The docs I've seen have considered anything above 90% "normal".

My desats never go much below 90% either. That doesn't mean I don't have apnea though. I can have a nearly three minute apnea, but I'll break out of it when the desats are just below 90%. For me, when the desats get that low, it's unpleasant.

Regards,
Bill

[Goofproof]

Heart problems doesn't necessarily mean pain. I had 3 blocks 95%, I went 4 days before going to the ER., they put 2 stints in and sent me home for a month, then came the Quad. I was too far gone to take it the first time.

While I was in the second time they didn't like my O2 stats. Later I found out I needed CPAP, I had needed it for 20 years but didn't know of it.

The heart attact felt like a truck setting on me. and it was being loaded heavier each day. They say when you have sugar sometimes you don't feel it. I'm still at O2 of 90, I get up to 93 walking.

[Guest]

Not sure I understood the bit about age O2 saturation levels. Did you get it Ric? Does it mean the older one is, the lover the absorption of oxygen into the blood stream, hence lower oxygen readings?
Fifi

You pretty much have it figured out. Yes, pulmonary function declines with age, as does various parameters of the red blood cells (RBCs), cardiac output, and a whole lot of other things that affect O2 delivery. O2 SAT is sort of a "bottom-line" way of looking at the whole process.

[Fifi]

Thank you guest for clarifying that.

NightHawkeye so that is interesting to hear the docs you see consider anything above 90 as normal.

I am just struggling with what is considered a normalish range. For me I have noticed that if my levels drop consistently much below 95 I feel pretty ill next day.

I am just wondering if there is something i can do to increase my O2 levels naturally ie that does not involve medication. I always Keep my bedroom window open at night hoping that will help.

Anybody else have any ideas?

[NightHawkeye]

I am just wondering if there is something i can do to increase my O2 levels naturally ie that does not involve medication.

There is a yoga technique which involves at most a few minutes of controlled breathing daily. I remember reading that it gives results after only a week or two.

It's a pretty easy technique as I recall. It involves breathing in quickly and releasing the air over some number of seconds. The theory is that it tricks the body into acting as if it is up at a high elevation where air is thin, hence, at normal elevations, the body stays saturated with oxygen.

I couldn't tell that it would benefit me, so I never tried it - just found it interesting. I'm not so sure that it helps with apnea oxygen depletion. Kinda seems like it might just extend the threshold so that the apneas actually end up being longer.

Regards,
Bill

[Fifi]

Thank you Nighthawkeye an interesting thought,
it is certainly worth looking at.

[jdschooler]

A perfect O2 sat would be 100% but most healthy adults run 96 to 99%....smokers of course 92 to 99%....an OSA'er should be on supplemental O2 at night on their CPAP if their sats drop below 90% during therapy...

Keep in mind that SaO2 (oxygen saturation as measured by a pulse oximeter) is only a percentage of the hemoglobin that is bound with oxygen. A true Arterial Blood gas will often show a more accurate and higher reading than what the pulse oximeter shows. In otherwords just becasue the pulse ox says (95% for example) if you have a low hemoglobin or you have just smoked a cigarette (in this case you would have increased levels of Carbon Monoxide) the pulse oximeter can be a false reading leading you to believe you have plenty of bound oxygen in your blood when infact your cells are actually starved of oxygen.

The moral.....treat the patient and their symptoms....not the pulse oximeter. If you feel bad but your sats say you have plenty of oxygen (or vice versa) than believe your feelings and not the sats.

Any resp therapists have any comments???

[Fifi]

jdschooler thank you for your response. It an ideal world the symptoms should be treated.

However time restrictions and lack of funding sometimes prevent the medics from doing this.

So I am pretty much alone on this one.

I have a really embarrassingly bad memory and I am just wondering if constant low O2 sats could be hugely affecting my memory?

I do not smoke and never have.

[sleepy gal]

Jeff, Am I understanding correctly that if you are anemic with a low hemoglobin that your O2 sats via pulse oximeter will not necessarily be correct?

If that is the case, then that may explain why I don't do well with a pulse oximeter reading between 90-95 even though it is not that low....I am anemic with a hemoglobin of around 9 to 10 (taking iron to try and get it up)!

Do you have any idea of how much a reading could be off if I am understanding this correctly?

Thanks.